Anita Diamant Kicks Off Writers Weekend At Twain House

Author Of 'The Red Tent' Began As Journalist

April 21, 2013|By CAROLE GOLDBERG, Special To The Courant, The Hartford Courant

Anita Diamant reached back thousands of years to find a story that would enthrall contemporary readers.

Her 1997 best-seller, "The Red Tent," was inspired by the biblical story of Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, who is briefly mentioned in the book of Genesis. From it, Diamant spun a tale of women's friendships and ancient customs and culture that resonated powerfully with her readers.

Diamant, an author, journalist and blogger, will discuss her books and career in an informal conversation with Julia Pistell, director of Writing at the Mark Twain House, on Friday, April 26, at 7 p.m. It is the first event of the second annual Mark Twain House Writers Weekend, which ends Sunday, April 28.

The three-day conference combines talks by noted authors and playwrights with sessions on writing and publishing. It will be held at the Twain House's Museum Center, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford.

Besides "The Red Tent," Diamant has written three other novels that center on women's lives. "Good Harbor" (2001) is about a convert to Judaism who develops breast cancer and finds a sustaining friendship with a younger woman. "The Last Days of Dogtown" (2005), set in the early 1800s on Massachusetts' Cape Ann, follows the lives of a group of outcasts, including a brothel owner, a female stonemason who dresses like a man and a white woman in love with a freed slave. "Day After Night" (2009), inspired by real events, is the story of a group of women sent to an internment camp in Israel following the Holocaust.

The success of "The Red Tent" was "a real Cinderella story," says Diamant, in a phone conversation from her home in Newton, Mass.

"Bookstores and book clubs propelled it" when it was first published, she says, and "it continues to find a diverse audience, including young readers. Some have no interest in religion, but want to know about pre-modern women's lives. God does not play a big part. It's about daily life then."

"I didn't write it as Scripture," Diamant says. "I wrote it as a novel.

"Dogtown," she says, "is also about the importance of women's friendships and their resilience. That's in all my books."

She also has published non-fiction books on contemporary Jewish life, inspired by her second marriage, to Jim Bell, who converted to Judaism before they married.

"We studied together," she says, and in the process Diamant realized there were few, if any, books that spoke to their situation.

"There was a hole in the bookshelf for me," she says. Researching the books she subsequently wrote, which include "The New Jewish Wedding," "Living a Jewish Life," "How to Be a Jewish Parent" and "The New Jewish Baby Book," "were all learning opportunities for me. It was not stuff I knew.'

Diamant's training as a reporter and editor aided her as an author.

"I was a journalist and wrote non-fiction for many more years" than were spent writing fiction," she says. "Researching and asking questions was important and helped a lot," as did the discipline. "That deadline thing — when you write for a living, that's enormously helpful to have in you."

Diamant says the skills she acquired in writing for newspapers and novels augment each other. Journalism taught her to prefer "a plain, non-ornamental style" but writing fiction and poetry "reinforce my love of language."

Her articles and columns have appeared in such publications as the Boston Globe magazine, Parenting, Yankee, Self, Parents, McCalls and Ms, and she writes a blog called Anita Diamant: Thinking Out Loud at anitadiamant.blogspot.com/ .

She got her start in journalism at The Phoenix, Boston's alternative paper, which recently ceased publication.

"The Internet killed The Phoenix," she says. "It really was terrific to write for them. They gave you freedom and space to learn and grow. It was an open door.

"It's not easy to get that elsewhere."

With print journalism struggling to survive in the digital age, Diamant offers this advice to aspiring reporters:

"You really have to love journalism to get into it now," she says, adding there is still work to be had but "the delivery system has changed to online."

Diamant, who is now at work on a novel about immigrants to Boston in 1915, says she's looking forward to a lively on-stage conversation with Pistell and the audience as the Writers Weekend begins.

An admirer of Twain's writing for its humor, Diamant is also a fan of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. She is sure that "Twain would love them too.

"Humor," she says, "is often the best way to succeed."

Carole Goldberg is a member of The National Book Critics Circle.

Weekend Schedule

The Mark Twain House Writers' Weekend, at 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford, opens Friday, April 26, at 6 p.m. with registration and a reception, followed by Anita Diamant's on-stage conversation with Julia Pistell at 7 p.m.